System and apparatus for operating electric switches.



No. 821,077. PATBNTED MAY 22, 1906. I

H. P. BALL.

SYSTEM AHB APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ELECTRIC SWITCHES APPLIOATIOH mm] 812F136. mo;

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 821,077. PATENTED MAY 22, 1906 H. P. BALL.

SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING ELECTRIC SWITCHES.

APPLICATION FILED 5513i"! 80, I902 3 SH S-SHBET 2.

. 2y 7 HNESSES: 2,2 HWWIOR 3'- GvwM-Jw I aq/6i ATTO NEY No. 821,077. PATENTED MAY 22, 1 906 H. P. BALL.

- SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR OPERATING BLECTRIG SWITCHES APPLIDA'IIDN FILED SEPT a0, 1662,

s SHEEIE-Sfififii .4

ATTORNEYS in order to maintain the strap in close l'riclional contact with the eccentric 25') the l sprinwprcssed rings 1H are emplo rcd. 'lhc rings Il-l arc loosely mounted on pins IHR so cured to and projecting horizontally l'r'oni the eccentric 2o Situated on the ends o! the pins are the adjuslahle nuts SH", and lwtoeen such nuts and the outer ring are helical spiii'igs 74 The rings 34 serve lrr reason ol' the Friction which they exert to stop the ro tzition oi the eccentric when the hitch 2'7 is disengaged from the ratchet-whccl 30, as will he hereinafter explained. the frictional disks 34 any other well-known means may he employed for holding the strap 32 in engagement with the eccentric 21;.

Located behind the arm .29 of the latch 27 and mounted on a stud 35, projecting horizontally from the eccentric 26. is a spring 35, Fig. 4, which serves to exert pressure upon the latch 27 and to force it when released into engagement with the lZllVllOt-dlilil 2a. The connecting-rod 3.5 is secured in" its inner end to an arm J36, pivotally connecti'wd to the short arm of a hell-crank 37. To the long arm of the hell-erank is pivotall cnnnccicd a link 38, ivotally connected at its upper end to a rod 39, secured at its lower end to a hridge-piece 13.

It will he understood that as the connecting-rod 33 is reoiprooatod forward or hack ward the l'n'idge-piece 13 will he brought into or out of contact With the contacts 12 in the oil-switch, thus making or hreaking the contacts through the oilswitch.

Secured to the brackets 19 on each side of the shaft 18 and hank oi the ratchet-Wheel 20, Fig. 4, of each switch are the horizontallydisposed solenoids 40 41, each provided with a movable core 42 43, and located behind each of the cores is a helical spring 44. These. springs serve to normally press the cores forward and into the path of movement of the arm 28 of the latch 37.

It will he ole-served that owing to the fact that the arms 28 .29 ol the latch .27 are connected they will have a coincident oscillating movement.

The mechanical operation of the switcher;- tuating mechanism so far as disclosed is as follows: The ratchet-wheel 20 is rotated clockwise by means of the motor 14, acting through the disk-wheel 21 and the interposed spring, 25, and the arm 28 of the. latch 27 is held, when the oil-switch is openi. (2., when in the position shown in Fig. k-against the action of the spring 35 b means of the core 42 of the Solenoid 40. f now this solenoid is excited by the passage of an electric curro nt through it, the core 42 will be attracted and the latch 27 under the action of the instead of using spring 35 will he thrown lormird into on gagenicn! llnongh its hook Ilil on :irni .29. with one of l he l('(l l] on the rnl hcl -\\l'iltl .Ill, The cll ce'll ol [his will he to rolulc ilnrul hcl wheel ill and the ccccnii'ic in which luiicl will impart movement to llu strap iii and through it makc irnction upon llil conncci inn-rod llil, its arm Th3. l-cll'cinnh $37. which latter will actuate lhc linh it and import an upward inouuncnt lo llurod illnn-cl lnidgcpiece ll'l ill its lower end to close the oil switch. ll will he (illcwll'Y ll llHll h lhc movement of the l';lli'll(l\\ll( ('l ill ihc :ll'll] 2% ol ihc latch 17 has hccn curried in iron! oi' the core 1-; ol the solenoid ii. and assuming the solenoid 1! not to h (\cilml such ore will stop the forward movement ol thc arm '28 and release the hook ill) on the other arm 28? oi the lnlcii l'roin engagement with the riiti-liebwlieel thereby hringing the parts to rest, Maniiesil the movement oi the parts to efl'ect 1 he openin; ol' the oil-well will he lhe reverse of that descrihed,

I will now describe how the con-" 42 15% are aciuatcd to control the movement oi the switch or switches.

Referring to Fig l, A A represent the con duciors (three) of an alternating polyphz'isc disirihuting system. Any nuniher of conductors may he employed. ii is a (|irc =l nrrent dynamo which serves to furnish ihc cn-- ergy required to actuate thc oil-switcl| -opcrating; mechanism. represents series lransformers, one in each leg of the distributing system. i) is an overload device, one in. each leg of the distrihuting systcn'i and each consisting of an actuMing-solenoid E, having a core F, carrying a contact-making device G adapted to count with a pair of contacts ll, connected to the terminals of the direct-cur rent mains from the dynamo B. [represents hand-switches adapted through the instru mentality of springs J to normally occupy the position shown and which switches may he manually brought into contact with either of the contacts K or L, as desired, and for the purpose which will he explained. M is a switch which may he manually operated or automatically operated through the solenoid N to bridge the, contacts P.

The operation of my device to autonnitically or manually open an oil-switch is as fol lows: Assuming an oil switch or switches to be closed, the motor 14 at rest, the distribute ing system in operation, and the handswitches l in the (lirect'current circuit in the position shown, should an overload occur in the distributing systemi. e., in any leg or legs of such systemsuoh overload will ener gize one of the series transformers toe greater extent than normal, which in turn will energize one of theoverload devices I). When the excitation of such overload device I) occurs, it will attract its core l and (lose the. direct-current circuit through contacts ii and di strf bu t5 ng-clrcuit, as many solenoid N which latter in turn trill attract its core and cause the switch to bridge the contacts 0 P, thereby throwing the current fromthe dynamo l5 onto the motor 14 which iaset in operation. The movement of the motor 14 will rotate the shaft 18 and through it the disk-wheel 2i and ratchet-wheel 20. It will be observed that when the ovcrloa device acts to close the direct-current circuit a current will be transmitted through one of the solenoids 41 and that such solenoid will attract its core 43, thereby permitting the latch 27 to have its arm 29 moved forward into engagement with the ratchet-wheel 2B. As soon as the latch engages with the ratchet wheel the eccentric 26 is moved through one hundred and eightyde rees and the latch 27 correspondingly move At this point the arm 28 of the latch 27 is brought into contact with an unattracted core 42 of a solenoid 40, which serves to release the latch, which brings the eccentric to resti. a, at rest in the position shown in Fi 4wlr le the rotary movement of the rate et-wheel 2E continues. The

movement of the eccentr'c through one hou dred and eighty degrees, duces a corrcspondin horizontal'movcment of the connectingro 33. In the condition of the switch as statedi. a, with the oilswitch closed-the connecting-rod is moved to the right to bring the parts into the position shown in Fig. 2-4. 6. with the circuit through the oil-switch bro en. When it is desired to close an oil-switch upon the cessaas described, pretion of an overload, the operator throws a hand-switch I to cover a contact K. Should there he at such time an overload upon the line, both solenoids 4O 41 will be excited and both cores 42 43 attracted; and the eccentric will make one complete revolution and the connecting-rod one complete reciprocation, thereby. movin the oil'switch parts from the open to the c osed position and from this closed to the open position. If when the oilswitch has reached its ori inal position the overload still continues, t 1e arts will continue to rotate, alternately ma ing and breaking the circuit through the oil-switch until the overload has ceased. Obviously the motor may be stopped at any time by opening the switch M. Should it be desired to control the switch-actuatin mechanismfor instance, to open the o1 switches; inde endonly of the overload deviceakthis may s acthrowine, amend-switch I to oomph-shed by cover a contact L.

I w sh it understood that I do not limit myself to the employment elegy particular t pe of transformer or overlo evice for c osing the direct-current circuit 11 on the creation of an overload in any brane i of the devices other than thoseshown may be used to accomplish the same result.

I independently located. Manifestly these switches maybe connected and grouped at any one point, so as to be operated simultaneously or independently, as desired. Having thus described my invention, I

claim 1. A systemof controlling electric switches, comprising an alternating distributing system, a switch in each leg of said system, a motor device for moving said switches, means for automatically throwing said motor device into operative relation. with said switches, and means for automatically controlling the movement of said switches individually.

2. A system of controlling electric switches, comprising an alternating distributing sys tom, a switch in each leg of said system, a

motor device for moving said'switchcs, means for automatically throwing said motor device into operative relation with said switches, means automatically controlling the movementof said switches individually, and means for manually controlling the movement of said switches. v

3 A system of'controlling electric switches, comprising an alternating distributing system. a switch in each leg of said system, a motor device for actuating said switches, an independent source of energy for actuating the motor device ,and means energized by an increase in current in the distributing circuit above the normal, which will close the circuit through the motor and selectively apply the movement imparted by the motor to the switches.

4. A system of controlling electric-switches, comprising an alternating distributing system, a switch, a transformer and. an overload device in each 1c of the system, a motor device for mo t switches, an independent source of egafor movin the motordevice, and means in ta circuit 0' the motor device for selectively controlling the movement of the switches.

5. In a switc -actuating mechanism, the combination of a shaft, 9, motor for driving the shaft, an eccentric pivoted on the shaft, means for connecting and disconnecting the eccentric from the shaft, a switch mechanism, and means driven by the eccentric for actuat: ing the switch mechanism.

6. In a. switch actuating mechanism, the combination of a shaft, amotor for driving the shaft, an eccentric pivoted on the shaft, means for connectin and disconnecting the eccentric from the s it ans for controlling said connecting and disconnecting means, a switch mechanism, and means driven by the eccentric or actuating the switch mech-' anism.

7. In a switch-actuating mechanism, the combination of a' shaft, amotor for driving the shaft, an eccentric pivoted upon the shaft, a ratchet driven by the shaft,means for con- In the drawings I have shown the switches l necting anddisconnecting the eccentric and it Immu- I'mdriving sfmp in l'rivlimm] ongugl-invnt with said 00- 3 pivutwi m1 thu shall, :1 mu'lwt drivvn ivy tlw shaft, a latch in! mum-(1mg and vvwutrw tn sand ram-11M, and vlmtrlmll means for gum mulling the ungagvmvnt 0" said lut rh wiLh sail] lnhzhut.

12. In :1. switz-lmivtunting mmwhnnixm. the mlmllirmtiun uf a driven shaft. an wvvnh'im: pivntml on the shaft. mr-zms for nmmm-ting said vuvmlic tn) tlu' hhilfl and vh-utrivul lm-nm for ziiswcmnuwting said vucvntric from said shaft.

3. 111 n awitvh-mrhmtil1g mechanism, (110 mmhiumtinn oi' a driven shaft, :1 mtvhvt piw MM! 031 Hm shaft, 1:10am fur trunsxnittimg U10 pmwr of the shaft vlmtivu'iiy tu thu ratchet, m1 uwvntrir; pivnted on the shaft, and 1110mm fur HHJISII'IHMH}: the movument uf the mt -lwi, to the eccmltric when dvsirwL M. ASXbH'iflOfCUliiIUHiHQPIiWJtI'iCH\VU]W comprising a motor, a source uf vm'rgy the-re on a shaft driven hf, (111v nmtor, u, scrim u!" mvitclr-zwtuating zucchuauimns, a svr es of switches adapted to I? operated by Lhv shaft, vlvrtrical means for ('nntrulling Um switchactuating mechanisms, said means having an nut1mmtmaHy-actmg part located nl ur 110m thv ,=w'nvhvs, and & munuall wwntmlled part lwutcd at a ii-511111101 from tho switulwa in tumummy wlwrmf I affix m signature I in 11w prvsvnuo of twn wimmws. rpmhnmtwn mi as drawn shuli, an ww-nu'm HENRY PKKE BALL. Win wssos:

.7. 1a. PEARSON, FRANK ()CuNNou. 

